Excerpt from Milton's Knowledge of Music: Its Sources and Its Significance in His Works A great man cannot be studied apart from his natural surroundings. John Milton, as a poet, as a musician, or as a highly developed example of the alliance of both arts, fails to reveal his true significance except as he is regarded, in the light of his environment and of the characteristics of-his own time. Before attempting an exposition of Milton's knowledge of music, therefore, it becomes necessary to examine and interpret the general conditions of music which prevailed in his time, to analyze the popular taste, and to become acquainted with the representative composers and their style of work. As far back as the reign of Henry VIII a golden age of English music had begun. At that time there was little real musical activity on the continent, and that little was sporadic and inconstant, without order or design. The Flemings, it is true, had displayed marked ability, particularly in the development of the madrigal form, but their efforts were so widely scattered, and their composers forced to cater to such a variety of tastes, that a really characteristic style was never developed. Germany produced only one or two good composers. Italy, preoccupied with her rediscovery of the ancient world, contributed nothing of her own to the world's music, but satisfied herself, as did most of the other continental nations, with the work of imported Flemish composers. In England alone was there a distinct native school. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.